Governor Edwards made an appearance on the LSUA campus Saturday morning to address the joint meeting of the Association of Louisiana Faculty Senates, Louisiana Statewide Colleagues Collaborative, and the Louisiana Conference of the American Association of University Professors.
Governor Edwards’ keynote presentation focused on the state of higher education in Louisiana including a strong commitment to financial support after many years of disinvestment, annual budget reductions and mid-year cuts. Additionally, he discussed allocating funding for the backlog of deferred maintenance projects across many university campuses. The deferred maintenance backlog just for LSUA totals $12 million so any allocation addressing these maintenance needs would be extremely beneficial.
“This is great news for all of us working in higher education. We are extremely grateful to the governor and to all of our area legislative delegation who have worked so hard to make these projects become a reality,” said LSUA Chancellor Dr. Paul Coreil.
Also of major interest to LSUA, Governor Edwards reiterated his commitment to providing much needed funding for the LSUA Drainage Project that has been ready for final-phase construction for several years. “This particular project is critically needed for student safety and flood protection of campus buildings that have had to deal with water inundation several times in recent years,” Coreil added.
This news is very welcomed for Louisiana higher education overall, but especially LSUA and Central Louisiana students.